


Don't Know Why

by nuustik



Category: Gymnastics RPF
Genre: F/F, Multi, raistafina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-08-31 18:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8589859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nuustik/pseuds/nuustik
Summary: It's been 2 years since the Rio Olympics. The Worlds in Doha, Qatar are approaching. Aly has returned to pro gymnastics, so has Nastia, but in a different way. A string of strange events leads them to feel an enigmatic pull towards a certain someone. The most unlikely of them all.





	1. Lost in Translation

**Author's Note:**

> A triangle fic. Unrelated to any of the other fics.

The early hours of Thursday October the 25th were upon them. The sun was escaping through the clouds slowly but surely. Qatar Airways Flight 730 was about to descend, having taken off from Dallas. It was the easiest flight to catch for the US Women’s Gymnastics Team as the national camp was held just beforehand half an hour from the airport. The entire back of the plane was filled with gymnasts sleeping in the most impossible positions for us mortals. Valeri was up as he heard the pilot’s announcement that they’d arrived in Doha. Everybody but him had missed breakfast, Valeri didn’t want to wake anybody before it was absolutely necessary. Uninterrupted sleep is a hard thing to come by during championship season and most of the girls had finally been out for 4 hours straight. Valeri wanted them as fresh as possible for the training session that afternoon. He gently shook Nastia first.  
  
’Nast, Nast!’  
  
She was sleeping next to Laurie who had been resting her head on Nastia’s shoulder while drooling all over her sweatshirt. Nastia rouse immediately; sleeping on the plane tends to be pretty light after all.  
  
’We’re here?’  
  
Valeri nodded and gave her a look which meant to wake the others. Nastia yawned in agreement while being slightly disgusted with her now slimy shoulder. She innocently squeezed Laurie’s knees (which Laurie hates, ’it just doesn’t feel right,’ she says) as payback to which Laurie poked up her head and instinctively started wiping her mouth clean. Nastia couldn’t be mad at this girl, she was always gonna be the baby, even at the age of 18.  
  
’Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, I’ll wash it for you the minute we get to the hotel!’  
  
’Yeah, laundry duty instead of training for you today!’ Nastia said lightheartedly, she was usually sassier than this, but mornings...  
  
As a coordinators assistant, she pretty much had to do Valeri’s dirty work, which she didn’t mind. The NBC gig had become a bit much over the past year and she had decided to take a break. She hadn’t been used to being around so many corporate alphas during her youth and it was a tough world in which to make yourself count. Especially next to veteran commentators like Tim Daggett. Valeri had wanted her to help him out since he became the coordinator, so Nastia finally gave in which had previously felt like settling, but at this moment she truly felt she was in the place she was supposed to be.  
  
’Simone, get up! Aly, shake a leg, woman! Wakey-wakey, girls!’ she said almost mockingly.  
  
Everybody looked exhausted, even Simone. Aly, now awake, was already dreaming of her next nap. She had somehow managed to get Simone into her napping fandom, so their favorite topics for nearly 2 years had been naps, power naps, best time for naps, what to wear during naps, solo naps vs having a ’nap partner’. All the important questions.  
  
’Geez, Nastia, could you turn down the volume? The plane engine is quite enough,’ Aly mumbled, looking for a response, but Nastia had already moved past her and was intently listening to Valeri, her ear beside his mouth. Aly could hear they’d switched to Russian which they tend to do sometimes. She’d always thought it was because there was something going on which was best to not be shared with ’the Americans’. Not yet, anyway.  
  
The plane had now circled over the airport for 20 minutes. Apparently there weren’t any empty runways. The stewardess told Nastia to stop moving around since the seat belt sign had actually been on the entire time she had been waking everybody up. The passengers were a bit dizzy from the unusual movement. Aly had always been notorious for having a sensitive stomach. She’d get extremely nervous before competitions and that’d really mess with her insides. Thankfully, she had usually been able to put on her game face during routines and ignore the uncomfortable feeling in her bowels. An unfamiliar anxiety hit her, though. She wasn’t freaked out about the training and qualification was a couple of days away. She’s usually cool around this time.  
  
’Can you hear what they’re saying?’  
  
’No, I’m still monolingual, girl.’  
  
’Something _devochka_ *, did you hear? He said _lubimoi_ **.’  
  
’Since when do you speak Russian?’ Simone asked with suspicion.  
  
’Oh, you know, picked it up here and there,’ said Aly, casual, while continuing to listen carefully.  
  
Truth is, she’d been teaching herself some basics since she was young. She’d always dream of meeting the gymnasts she’d idolized, most of whom were Russian, so she wanted to be able to communicate with them, if she'd get a chance to be in close proximity of any. Her mom had asked if she studied so hard to go and visit Lilia Podkopayeva in Moscow to which Aly had rolled her eyes since Lilia is Ukrainian. She was kind of a snob when it came to Russian gymnastics.  
  
’Okay, whatever, I can’t confirm or deny anything for you, you’re on your own here,’ sighed Simone, still pretty grumpy. She’d grown a lot in 2 years, had gotten calmer, so that mixed with the morning grouchiness made her not care what the Liukins were talking about or why in the world Aly understood bits of their Klingon-like language.  
  
The brief conversation between Nastia and Valeri had come to a close. Aly was staring at Nastia who was sporting her now less-frequent but trademark Resting Bitch Face. There was a distinct melancholy in that pouty mouth, though. This wasn’t the look she remembered so vividly from Beijing. She couldn’t glare too long as Nastia spotted her and immediately put on a forced smile to seem fine. Aly smiled back and turned away, while left wondering what had gone on between those two.  
  
’This is your captain speaking. We’ve now been given a green light for landing, so please, make sure your seat belts are fastened. We’ll touch ground shortly. Thank you for your patience and I wish you a pleasant stay in Doha, Qatar.’  
  
’Finally! This sweatshirt is long overdue to come off.’ Nastia gave Laurie a teasing grin while the younger one had a pained look on her face. She genuinely felt embarrassed about her uncontrollable bodily fluids, on top of that, there was a booger just hanging out from her nose which made Nastia giggle. Laurie was a hot mess that morning. Nastia handed her a tissue and took her in for a warm embrace.  
  
The plane landed smoothly and the first half of the passengers, who seemed to be locals, applauded. The Americans cringed a little, probably the only corny thing they’d not be responsible for as tourists. There was excitement in the air. Or was it sweat?  
  
’It’s 28 degrees Celsius in Doha, I hope everybody brought sunscreen and deodorant,’ the pilot said in a cheeky fashion.  
  
’Celsius?’  
  
It just wasn't Laurie’s day today.

* * *

*girl

**favorite


	2. Princess of Siberia

’ _Zdravst-, zdravst-vuy-te, Zdravstvuyte, menya zovut Alexandra... Ya lublu tebya_ *’ Aly stuttered.  
  
She had run into Svetlana Boginskaya on her way to the stadium, who she knew full well was living in the States and could easily speak English with her. But since she had blurted out that she knows a little Russian, Svetlana insisted on hearing some.  
  
’That’s good, Aly! A little forward but _molodetz_!**’ Sveta said jokingly.  
  
Aly blushed. She didn’t quite mean to confess her love to Svetlana just yet, but it was the first thing that popped into her head. She had learned ’I love you’ years ago but didn’t realize it was a phrase much less worn out in Russian than it was in English.  
  
’I suck, I know! Learning a language without practice is completely useless.’  
  
Sveta tried to emphatize, ’I agree. When I moved to America I didn’t speak a word of English. I had to really push myself to go out and talk to people, that’s how I finally got the hang of it. Not that I speak the language well anyway, even after all these years I’m still learning. You need someone to practice with. Doesn’t Nastia speak Russian?’  
  
’Yeah, but A, I haven’t told her I know any, and B, she’s always said she’s uncomfortable speaking it with anyone outside her family, she feels like she becomes a different person. So I never even brought it up to her, which is weird, because we’re very close. We’ve always sort of clicked. Even when I was the one looking up to her, she never thought of me as a fan but quickly accepted me as a friend.’ Aly had now gone into a monologue-mode.  
  
Aly had lost Sveta halfway her rambling. Svetlana was in a rush to meet with _the_ Aliya Mustafina. That’s when it occurred to her and she stopped Aly mid-sentence.  
  
’You know Aliya, right? I’m meeting her in a minute. We’ll be discussing whether I could train her half-time in Russia and the other half in the US. She has been wanting to broaden her horizons and learn English _for ages_. I think we’d be a good match, honestly. But do you see, where I’m going with this?’  
  
Aly half-nodded, half-shook her head. Of course she knew Aliya. Well, she didn’t _know_ her. They had met at competitions previously and both made two Olympics, London and Rio. They had exchanged a couple of pleasantries and many-many congratulatory hugs in the past. She once counted every hug she gave during a meet – 35! She must have spent more time on hugging than on all her routines combined. Aly never dared to hit up a conversation with any of the Russians, although she probably could have said something other than ’hello’ and ’well done’, better than the rest of the team, anyway. Something like ’ _Krasivaya_!***’ But she usually chickened out the last minute, so the interaction between her and Aliya had been almost identical to the way she treated every other foreign gymnast – equally kindly. At least so she thought.  
  
’Not exactly?’ Aly was starting to figure it out but didn’t want to seem eager.  
  
’I thought maybe you could practice your Russian with her and teach her English in return. _If_ our deal works out. ’ Sveta looked pleased with her impromptu plan.  
  
’Really? How would that work, I mean, I train in Boston and you’ll be all the way in Texas.’  
  
’I’ve been thinking about that. It wouldn’t make sense for her to travel past the East Coast, I know the money is tight in Russia, they count every ruble, so I’ve been searching for gyms where I could work with her. Laurie’s gym in New Jersey is an option but Brestyan’s also seems like a fair choice. Speaking of, where is Mihai? Didn’t he fly with you guys?’  
  
’Oh, yeah, the coaches had to come separately, someone messed up the booking, but their flight got delayed, so he’ll be here at midnight.’  
  
’Oh, okay, so, Aly, honey, I’ve got to run now, but I’ll tell Aliya that she’ll have a language learning buddy on top of a new coach, yeah?’  
  
’Sure, why not!’ Aly was on autopilot at that moment.  
  
’See you!’ Svetlana gave her a hug (10th one today for Aly) and hurried towards stadium.  
  
’Bye!’  
  
_Note to self: learn a phrase in Russian besides ’I love you’. What. Just. Happened._

* * *

   
_I was supposed to meet her here, right? Definitely. She said this lobby. It’s only a couple of minutes past 2. You still love Russia, Aliya! You’re meeting with a former Soviet gymnast, for God’s sake. But why did she move? Is she an American now? Oh, shush, Aliya, you’re just challenging yourself. And Sergei set this up. The all-Russians-need-to-train-at-Round-Lake-rule is ridiculous, I’d like to see them putting a team together without me. Oh, getting a big head there, aren’t you? Yeah, I think training in a different environment, among the best gymnasts in the world will sober me right up. I wonder if Svetlana is friends with Nastia... Maybe we could do bars together, like, at the same time, and make a show of it. Yeah, and get a concussion in the process. Brilliant, Aliya!_  
  
Aliya was sitting in the lobby of Aspire Dome, this huge training facility and competition arena. She went through a bit of trouble to find that exact lobby Svetlana had suggested they’d meet in. ’The one with a line of vending machines and a baklava stand,’ she’d said. There was almost nobody here, the athletes didn’t want to tempt themselves. Even though those baklava cakes are tiny, the main ingredient in them is probably cellulite.  
  
Aliya was waiting by the front entrance to seem visible. Even the lobby was enormous. The ceiling was a hundred miles away, there were tens of white couches and modern lounge chairs set all over the waiting room. It felt like a film set where everybody was at lunch. So perfect that she didn’t dare to touch anything, just picked the first empty chair she saw, which later turned out to be the guard’s seat. Oops. Aliya had been to places but never to somewhere so fancy and luxurious. Since there was nobody around and nothing to focus on, her mind kept spinning. Whenever she’d stumble upon a self-deprecating thought, she’d cringe and place her hand over her eyes and forehead. She wasn’t usually neurotic, but being away from home in strange environments always brought out something she didn’t know she embodied. Usually something she did not like.  
  
A light-haired friendly-faced Svetlana appeared to be speed walking towards the lobby. She pulled open the glass door like she had missed grabbing the bar with one hand and now forcefully yanked herself back up. She was feminine-looking but quite robust at the same time.  
  
’Hey-hey, I’m sorry, I got held up by... So nice to see you, Aliya! Can I call you Alya? I hope you didn’t wait for long!’ Svetlana said apologetically.  
  
’No-no, not at all. I arrived early so you’re right on time.’ said Aliya, amused. She had now shook off being in her head, ’And yes, people back in Russia call me Alya all the time.’  
  
’I figured, Russians love to give nicknames,’ said Sveta contently. ’I think we can go to one of the conference rooms upstairs and have a chat. Okay?’  
  
’Sure! This place is so big, I don’t even know how to go about finding the training area.’  
  
’I knoooow, I’ve never seen anything like it, but thankfully I was upstairs yesterday, so here’s hoping I can get there again,’ Svetlana said, winking at Aliya.  
  
They first took the elevator to the fifth floor and walked through a long corridor. The walls became glass at one point and they were met with a direct view of the arena. Aliya looked down and spotted a bunch of girls wearing blue sweats. They seemed to be testing out the bounciness of the floor. One of them kept walking from person to person, like a coach, placing her hands on their shoulders, looking straight into their eyes and saying something in an enthusiastic manner, the receiving end nodding actively. Aliya squinted. The cheerleadery girl had dark wavy hair in a ponytail and the strongest build of them all. The recognition almost hit Aliya but the ponytail threw her. Her walk was kind of funny, almost like she was trying to put one foot in front of the other, but her muscular thighs stopped that from looking particularly graceful. One of the girls took out her phone and pointed the camera on all of them. Aliya could hear pieces of sound coming through the glass, then a familiar laugh. _Raisman_?

* * *

   
’I miss you.’  
  
Nastia had been staring at her phone for 5 minutes now. There it was, a message almost equal to ’I love you’ and instead of feeling wanted, needed and loved, she felt guilt. The unease was all over her face, she didn’t want to go out of the locker room like this. She purposely didn’t open that text before everybody had left, she knew who it was from and how it’d make her feel. 7 minutes had past. She threw her phone into the locker, shut the door.  
  
_If you can’t see it, it doesn’t exist, right?_  
  
Having taken a quick look in the mirror, she thought herself to be ready to face the others without them suspecting anything. Well, all but one. She was tricky. Nastia felt transparent in front of her, she’d sensed things before, things Nastia thought nothing gave away. She’d notice her irregular breathing, lack of gesturing, constant swallowing. She also knew things. Nastia had told her about her struggles with that person, how she wasn’t sure what she wanted anymore, even though it has been so clear just a couple of years ago. Aly made her talk, not just babble to fill the silence, to mask her truth, but really share herself. Nastia was frightened. She was also alive.  
  
_Right. Why don’t we get rid of that mopey look now, shall we?_  
  
10 minutes of silence was finally broken with an accented order coming from outside the room.  
  
’Could you go inside and see if she’s there?’  
  
_Oh, God, please, don’t be her, please, don’t be her._  
  
’Nastia? You here?’  
  
_Thank God._  
  
’Yup, sorry, I got distracted by looking at myself in the mirror.’ Nastia was relieved. It was Laurie.  
  
’That wouldn’t be the first time...’ Laurie raised an eyebrow. She loved looking like the mature one for change.  
  
’You know me, gotta look camera ready since Simone keeps shoving it in my face every 5 seconds.’ It’s a lot easier to play coy with Laurie.  
  
’Right! She’s out of hand, that one, she just pulled out her phone, held it up high, when it slipped out of her hand mid-heeeeyyy-guuuuyss riiight onto her nose. Karma, baby! Aly couldn’t stop laughing for ages.’  
  
’Oh, Simone... so much to learn about the art of a high reach snap. Anyway, I’m done marveling at myself for now, will continue later. Valeri must be annoyed.’  
  
’More lost than annoyed, you’ve totally become his right-hand woman.’ Laurie chuckled at her very accurate observation.  
  
’Okay, everybody, calm down, Nastia to the rescue!’ Nastia swooshed out of the room, Laurie right behind her like a loyal Robin to her own Batman. So she thought, she had never the comic book.  
  
When she saw Valeri, she slowed down a bit, straightened herself out and followed his stern figure to the floor. He didn’t look mad nor pleased, he was just collected. When they were working, she wasn’t his daughter, she was his employee. ’All business,’ he’d say. Nastia had been responsible for booking the plane tickets for the team and their coaches. When she couldn’t fit them on the same flight, Valeri was unhappy. But in his own way. He didn’t raise his voice or pop a vein, but said he’s disappointed. _Disappointed_. He had wanted to prove his worthiness of the position and every little mishap felt like his footing got a bit hollower. None of the coaches necessarily complained but he knew this was on him. Because of her.  
  
’Aly, you said the floor was what?’ Valeri asked.  
  
’Yeah, I said the feel was unusual. It seems like the carpet is separate from the foam which we don’t have in our gyms. It looks prettier but feels maybe a bit bouncier. So it makes it harder to stay in bounds.’  
  
Everybody looked at Aly, confused. Had she taken a floor construction class lately?  
  
’You’re right, but you’ll get used to it, we have a whole two hours to practice today and we’ll get the hang of it before qualification. They had this in Beijing, as well.’ Valeri looked at Nastia for reassurance.  
  
’Exactly. It actually helped me. To each their own, I guess.’ Nastia let out a noticeable sigh.  
  
Not the insight Valeri was hoping for, Nastia seemed disengaged.  
  
’Okay, Simone, you’re up!’ Valeri did a little clap and everybody cleared the floor.  
  
Nastia took a seat by the apparatus and, of course, Aly managed to fight her way to the chair next to her. Nastia crossed her arms, trying to make it seem like she was focused on watching Simone’s floor. Aly turned to her and stared. Nastia felt her eyes on her.  
  
’What?’ she asked, irked.  
  
’Where did you disappear to earlier?’ The sincere curiosity and slight worry made Nastia melt a little.  
  
’Oh, I was just, I changed my clothes.’  
  
_The worst liar._  
  
’You changed your clothes again _after_ you had obviously changed out of your Laurie’s saliva filled sweats in the hotel?’ They didn’t come into the arena together, so Aly couldn’t really know if a change had occurred, but she wasn’t buying this for a second.  
  
’Yeah, it was hot out, so I changed, okay?’ Nastia said, defensive. She wasn’t ready to be found out.  
  
’Are you talking about how Nastia can’t get herself to leave the mirror?’ Laure wanted to chime in on the supposed roast.  
  
’Oh, is that so?’ Aly knew something was up since Nastia had handed out two fake excuses for being out of sight, but now was not the time to drill her about it. Nastia never told her anything, being backed into a corner.  
  
Laurie got such a kick out of mocking the ’elders’. It was a friendly mockery, she could never be malicious towards anyone. It was all good fun.  
  
’Well, who could blame her, look at our Princess of Siberia!’  
  
Nastia glanced at Laurie, couldn’t keep a straight face any longer but tried, hard. The more amusing it was to Aly and Laurie, as they kept imitating her narcissistic ways. Nastia finally burst out laughing. Every time the title of ’Princess of Siberia’ came to mind, she’d smile, maybe even giggle. She'd try to hold that thought as long as possible, for as long as she’d have to face _that message_ again, at least.

 

* * *

*Hello, my name is Alexandra... I love you!  
**Well done!  
***Beautiful!


	3. I Think I'm Jealous of Your Girlfriend

She was sitting on the Aspire park bench, observing the mirror-like surface of the water. There was a meticulously trimmed tree growing behind her, its duplicate a not too far from it. The grass was mossgreen; the heat hadn’t gotten its bone dry hands on it just yet; there were patches, which the weather had conquered, but even those seemed symmetrical. Organized nature, she thought. An ideal scenery to go with her sport of choice, where one shouldn’t mistake composure for ease. Nothing effortless about either.

Little did she know, she had company. Someone had taken time to reflect a few benches over, a new member of the Russian team, whose name she was having trouble remembering. She, of all people, couldn’t recall the Russian girl’s name. Then it hit her.

_Of course it’s..._

Anastasiia Iliankova. Nastia for short. The girl seemed to have taken a break from an afternoon run. She was wearing close to nothing, but that little of a fabric had firmly been able to accommodate at least three spellings of ’Russia’ (in red, of course) and a continuous pattern on little sketched matryoshka dolls. They always seemed to be following the logic of going big or going home, she pondered. What even _is_ subtlety?

Liukina casually moved a bench over, glancing at her Russian namesake. She wasn’t sure what she wanted from her; maybe it was to distract herself, perhaps to bathe in someone’s admiration. Yes, she craved for assurance today.

’Hello... can I sit here?’ she asked somewhat cautiously, yet fairly certain of the answer.

’Uhm, sure.’ Her mini-me looked pasty, even after a run in this hell of a sauna.

Nastia kept waiting for a sign of recognition from the girl.

’I’m Nastia!’

’Me too! Short for Anastasiia, as, I’m sure, you know!’

’What a coincidence! If you want your kid to be a good bar worker, naming her Nastia is half the victory, I’d say.’

Still hoping for the light bulb to fire up in the girl’s mind.

’Yes! Bars is my best event!’ she gushed and boasted. ’Who else do you know named Nastia who’s good at bars?’

Yikes. It hadn’t occurred to Nastia that the gymnast probably was too young during her heyday to consider her a big deal.

’Uhm, I used to be a gymnast. I actually won a couple of Olympic medals.’

The hope for a confidence boost wasn’t going _too great_ so far.

’Oh, yeah? You’re not a Russian gymnast, though, I can tell by your accent. ’

There was something contradictory about the Russian. The face of a cherub didn’t agree with the slight snappy tone of the first few words leaving her expressive mouth. The American had seen her before and had noticed nothing distinguishable from the rest of the team – all good on bars.

’I grew up in America. Texas. My parents are Russian and we speak the language with each other. I rarely do with anybody else, so consider yourself privileged.’ Nastia’s inner brat was showing its ugly cheeks.

’Hold on, I might know you after all. Our team captain, Aliya, she has mentioned you a couple of times.’

’Oh, really? What about me?’

’That you’re the one she’s learned the most from as a bar worker.’

_That’ll do._

’Wow, that’s flattering, but I’ve never really met her, actually.’

’You haven’t? I thought she gets on with the Americans quite well.’

’Oh, why would you think that?’

’Well, I saw her sitting with one before at the dining hall.’

_Who???_

’Who?’

’Alexandra, I think. You must know her.’

_Aly???_

’Yeah, I know Alexandra.’ Wait, but... what language were they speaking in?’

’First in English, then in Russian.’

_In Russian???_

’In Russian? Aly doesn’t speak Russian.’

’Well, ’speaking’ might be too kind, but she definitely knew some Russian.’

’Wha–Why? Are you sure?’

’Yes. I’m sure.’ The mini-me gave her a _come-on-now-look_.

’Was Aliya feeding her some phrases or... ?’

’Yeah, that, too. But she came up with stuff on her own, as well. It was really hilarious, I can’t believe Aliya kept it together.’

Nastia’s face turned serious. Keeping her composure was definitely not easy, but not in a way she’d predicted. A discreet smirk managed to escape onto her face.

* * *

 

’Can she understand me?’

Aliya, slightly puzzled, ’Yes... I have ears.’

Svetlana let out a relaxed laugh.

Aly threw her hands onto her face for a second, in embarrassment, got up and extended one limb towards Aliya.

’I’m sorry. We haven’t officially met. I’m Aly.’

’I know. Aliya Mustafina,’ all formal, being in the habit of sounding out her name to the hotel desk _several_ times a day, ’Saw you before, we hug many times.’ The corners of her lips turned downwards a little.

_WHAT? That’s the first thing you associate her with?_

’I’m a big hugger,’ Aly chuckled. ’I mean, I like to congratulate with hugs.’

Aliya was still standing, switching legs to rest on, which Aly noticed.

’Oh my gosh, please, sit, join us,’ Aly gasped.

An awkward yet eager smile appeared on Aliya’s face as she landed next to Svetlana, directly opposite from Aly, who had stretched out her arms towards the center of the table, almost looking to entwine hers with someone else’s.

’There he is, I’ll be a second.’ Svetlana excused herself and walked over to Mihai, who had just entered the dining hall.

Following Sveta’s departure, the new acquaintances were left with no leads for further conversation. The potential translator between them had left and the air felt a bit tighter. Both of them were looking towards the coaches, pretending to be intrigued by their interaction, while really avoiding eye contact in this sudden state of silence. The roles had changed, they were not rivaling gymnasts anymore, just two girls having breakfast. Well, one of them was and the other had now turned her gaze back to the hands before her.

Aliya pointed to Aly’s wrist, ’What is that?’

’Oh, that’s my late dog’s collar tag, I wear it whenever I’m not competing or train– ’ Aly realized mid-sentence that the wording of that was probably a tad complex for Aliya, whose curiosity had turned to confusion within seconds.

’It’s from my dog’s, you know,’ motioning to her own neck and sticking her tongue out which was totally unnecessary as the word ’dog’ wasn’t the problem for Aliya.

’Oh, your dog dead?’ Aliya’s face was saying ’I’m sympathetic’, but the words sounded more like coming from a Russian prison guard.

’Yes, he died of a common disease among his breed, his valves–’ She was doing it again, but stopped for a different reason this time. Her eyes welled up, it hadn’t been long since the passing of her beloved. She was staring down, a tiny teardrop pouring over her cheek.

Worry rushing over her, Aliya placed her hands on Aly’s, in the hope of offering comfort without words this time. She realized she must have sounded harsh before. She had made the girl cry on the first one-on-one conversation/language lesson they’ve had, and had a feeling it’ll be the last.

’Sorry, do not cry, my English very bad!’

’No, it’s not you, I just get very emotional when I think about him, it’s not you at all, I’m sorry, this is embarrassing,’ Aly murmured, suddenly feeling the warmth around her fingers. She glanced up and was faced with the concerned look of the Russian, who had dropped her head slightly to get a peek at how the other one was doing. The sheer physical contact had soothed her right away.

’Hey, you should hold my hand whenever I finish my tenth set on bars and feel like sobbing through the eleventh!’

_HUH? Why would you say that?_

’Okay... ?’ Aliya didn’t quite catch all that, but by the look of Aly’s curved mouth, she thought she’d made peace.

_Oh, thank God, she didn’t get it._

’I’m okay, I’m fine! Let’s forget this happened,’ Aly brushed aside.

Aliya had relaxed her grip until their hands fell completely away from each other and slid in their imaginary bounds on the table.

’Anyway, do you have pets? A dog or a cat or... ?’

’Yes, cat. His name Lev, it mean ’lion’.’ Aliya’s eyes sparkled as she went on to gesture Aly the size and shape of her precious kitten. ’He is big and _poof_ like lion,’ trying to explain the look of her fur ball of a pet.

Aly, amused, ’ _Poof_? You mean fluffy?’

’Yes, maybe, fluffy. Fluffy-fluffy, very soft and many hair.’

’So, kind of like me, then?’

Aliya burst out laughing. ’You think you look like lion?’ she asked, snickering.

’Well, I have lots of hair, don’t I?’ Aly, pretend-defensive.

’Maybe you are like Lev. He wish he is lion but is sweet like cherry _kompot_.’

Aly was beaming. It must have been the combination of hearing the Russian speak Russian and sort of being called sweet.

’ _Kompot_ , huh?’

’It is fruit drink in Russia, very sweet.’

’That’s an interesting analogy...’ Aly thought, smug.

It just hit Aliya that she had somehow pulled the short straw in this situation and was determined to switch that around.

’Sveta tell me that you know Russian.’

’Oh, only a little.’ The smugness disappeared and was replaced with heart palpitations.

’Why?’ Aliya had been wondering that since Svetlana told her about the discovery.

’I learned because I was a fan of the Russian gymnasts when I was little. I thought that when I meet one, I can talk to them more easily,’ she explained. ’Learning the alphabet and just reading the words in those unfamiliar letters took so much getting used to that I actually don’t have a very impressive vocabulary.’ Aly didn’t want to get her hopes up and was _praying_ to let this not be their first Russian portion of a meeting.

’Really, what gymnasts?’

’I liked Lilia Podkopayeva the best.’

’She is not Russian?’

’I know, she’s Ukrainian, but that’s pretty much Russia, right?’ Once a gymnastics snob, Aly instantly felt silly after having said that.

’Putin thinks same,’ Aliya joked. She had visited Crimea many times in her life and liked the land and the people very much. Her father had spent summers there, too.

’I’m sorry, that was kind of stupid.’

Aliya tried to steer away from getting too serious.

’Lilia speaks Russian, I meet her,’ she said with a sly look on her face.

’You met her? Oh my God, what was she like?’

’She not speak English, if you want talk to her, you must speak Russian.’ Aliya looked pleased with herself. She was finally on the right side of the table.

Aly took a deep breath. She started to reach around for _any_ Russian she possibly could find in her deserted memory.

* * *

The American team arrived at the arena and scuttled in the direction of vault. It was still _pre-podium-training-training_ which meant the pressure was relatively low for most. Right before them had pranced the Chinese team, even more penguin-like than the following bunch. They went to bars first, then vault; those were the two apparatuses for today. It felt right to let both teams start on something to give them a boost of self-belief for the remaining practice. The US girls had managed to gain pretty solid Amanar’s in the past year, even those, like Laurie, who previously hadn’t attempted the difficult vault. Although the value was somewhat lower than before, all of the girls who’d be contributing to the team score had polished the ins and outs of the execution to match whichever sat-down Produnova was going to be thrown their way. There was no chance that this powerhouse of a group was going to let the team gold slip through their fingers after having dominated for almost a decade.

A couple of warm-up attempts later, Simone went. Amazing air-time, could have easily flown to the pizzeria near the arena, which she was planning on doing the first thing after the practice. Legs locked together, sure landing. She truly _nailed_ it. Very little to deduct there. Now she just had to do the same exact thing about eight more times in the upcoming days.

Aly was ready to go. She was always nervous, though. Moving between routines, either stretching, hopping, doing an odd cartwheel or two or just plain pacing around. There was no staying still. That helped her, too; kept her body warm, mind distracted from the nerves, focused on the task. That was her way of feeling comfortable with being uncomfortable. Having saluted, she did a skip before racing towards the feared board, pushed for dear life and found her way down safely. Another one bites the dust. She had lost her Amanar after Rio, it was barely there for a while, but seemed like she had managed to peak at the right time yet again. The effort was more than solid. Not vault final worthy, but irreplaceable for the team, and she was the team captain after all. Mihai was pleased; pulled her in for a side-hug, whispered a thing or two to the winded girl. Mihai knew to not overwhelm her with detailed feedback during competition; the work was done, now was the time to enjoy the fruits of labor.

Still, even after having kept going for more than twenty years, continuously getting better, the girl was jittery. It could have been the fact that she was never deemed the best, never impeccable, wasn’t a born and ready superstar of a gymnast, but what she did have up her sleeve was the combination of passion and determination. She kept digging until she reached the gold. She thought she had found it two years prior, but something told her there’s more. There was another treasure trove waiting to be discovered.

Nastia was standing on the sidelines while Valeri kept trotting back and forth. He had forevermore been stern and silent during training and competition. He didn’t waste his breath for nothing, but had learned to see how much a simple encouragement could switch the mindset of a gymnast, so he tried. ’Good’ and ’not bad’ were his go-to’s. Especially ’not bad’. He tried. The plan was to match Valeri’s muteness. Until bars. The last pair of feet touched the vault mat, it was time to go. The Chinese had been surprisingly quick, too. Threw in their ten elements, on and off in a hot second, and were ready to waltz to vault.

Aly went first, just to get it over with. She just wanted to get through bars, although, there had been improvements since the wider audience last saw her. The strain and lack of effortless swing had remained, but the toes were pointed, legs glued together, hit all the handstands. She hadn’t fallen in ages. The work-ethic of this girl was astounding. There wasn’t much to say, but Nastia was determined to. She specifically switched to her mother tongue for the following.

’Beautiful, nice form!’

Valeri nodded.

’Give her a month at Round Lake and she’ll be golden.’

Nastia felt like she’d have to get to know the girl from square one at this point. There was a certain distrust in her after having learned Aly’s _podloy_ * secret. Then again, she wasn’t angry, just thrown. She’d always thought Aly to be completely transparent, willing to share herself, especially with her. Nastia had been sure something like understanding her first language would have had to come up over the years they’ve been friends. Never mind the conversations between her and Valeri she might have been able to comprehend. On the other hand, this development could make them closer, and she was more interested in dwelling on the latter than the rest of the petty nonsense. There were questions to be asked, but first:

’She could do better than that, though.’

Aly had held a smirk on her face up until that point. Nastia was paying close attention to her. She’d figured Valeri wasn’t really listening any longer, so she continued, still in Russian.

’If only she could keep her tush in on the dismount.’

Aly turned her head so fast, out of pure instinct, and went, ’WHAT?’

’Aly... don’t you mean _chto_ **?’

Mihai started ushering her back onto the bars to redo a series. Her head was still facing Nastia. She mouthed ’what’ one more time, while shaking her head in confusion, took a deep breath and grabbed onto the sticks of dread.

Speaking of, Round Lake’s finest had arrived early. Aly was just on her second release when she caught a moving pack of red-white sweats from the corner of her eye, lead by her breakfast companion. And _BAM_! Butt – floor. Aly was off the bars. Instead of treasure, she had found the triangle of shame.

* * *

* dirty

** what

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, I changed the breed of Aly's dog since I didn't want to kill off her actual one.
> 
> Second, the conversation between the Nastias is in Russian. :) 
> 
> Third, Nastia was kind of a bitch in this one, sorry. There's a sweet person under all that sass, I promise!
> 
> I definitely don't think I have a good grasp of the English language yet, so feel free to leave constructive criticism. All sorts of feedback is appreciated. :)
> 
> Toodaloo for now!


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